Portgas D. Ace/Personality and Relationships
Personality Ace was much more intelligent, polite, and generally, more bearable than Luffy, which prompted the Straw Hat Pirates to question whether he was truly related to their captain. While several people who knew Gol D. Roger noted Luffy is quite similar to the late Pirate King, Whitebeard himself claimed that Ace's personality was not at all like his father's. It seems that among the very few things the brothers shared was their recklessness as pirates (and their near-bottomless stomachs). In addition, Ace liked to party as much as his brother does. When he boarded Buggy's ship, he was drawn by the smell of food and decided to enjoy himself while he was there. Ace could be a bit inappropriate though as he once used a woman's skirt to wipe his face while he was dining at Spice Bean in Alabasta. There were two running gags about Ace. The first was his rather extreme narcolepsy. He tended to randomly fall asleep while eating and conversing, leaving strangers around him wondering if he had died. This was first seen in Alabasta when they thought he died in the middle of eating. The second was that he did a "dine and dash" routine wherever he went. This went back to his younger days with Sabo and Luffy, when they would often dine and dash in the city of Goa, and carried over to adulthood, as shown on three occasions when he was on Drum Island, Alabasta, and Lulusia Kingdom. Ace was also shown to be quite impulsive, much like his younger brother, as he too would make hasty decisions and, in some cases, neglect listening to reason. This was shown that shortly prior to setting out to hunt Blackbeard for killing Thatch. Whitebeard insisted that Ace should not to go after him, yet Ace, despite his immense loyalty and respect for his captain, ignored his warnings and went off to find his former subordinate. Another, albeit more humorous example, was in his mini-story, where during his hunt for Blackbeard, he mistook a man named Dr. Blackbeard for his target, due to coincidentally having a similar name and appearance to Teach. Rather than check to see if he found the man he was looking for, Ace jumped to conclusions to soon and attacked the doctor on sight. It was by then Ace realized too late that he had the wrong man, which got him into a lot of trouble with the villagers. His "politeness" is due to Makino's teaching after Ace asked her how to introduce himself to Shanks (being his brother's savior). Before that, Ace was rather cold and rude to anyone he was not familiar with. As the son of Roger, he lived in his shadow and is to date the first D. depicted to truly question his own right to exist, while displaying the fewest commonly seen D. related traits. Ace seemed to have lifelong problems dealing with his parentage, even after denouncing Gol D. Roger and accepting Whitebeard as his only father. This was in direct contrast to Luffy, who accepted his father's identity immediately upon learning it and did not seem to care when he was told how dangerous of a man he was. However, Luffy did not grow up with knowledge of the identity (or even the existence) of his father. Ace believed that it was natural if he were to really die as nobody in the world wanted the son of the devil (Roger) to live. This caused him to be surprised and shocked that Whitebeard would easely accept him in his crew despite him being the son of Whitebeard's rival and that the entire Whitebeard Pirates' crew and allies and Luffy would risk their lives in order to save him. Ace commented upon his own death that he had never sought fame or fortune - all he had wanted was the answer to his lifelong question of whether or not he should have been born, as this was the only thing preventing him from dying with no regrets as he and Luffy had vowed to do so and the fact he had a younger brother to look out for. Ace's only regret was that he would not live to see Luffy achieve his dream, which he believed Luffy undoubtedly would accomplish as he was his little brother. Benn Beckman of the Red Haired Pirates described Ace’s personality to be more naive than his appearance would suggest. He compared Ace’s characteristics to be more aligned with the Revolutionary Army’s, considering his personal vendetta against the world denying his existence. Ace is described to be more of a fighter than a Pirate, making Beckman think Ace is unfit to be captain of a fleet. Ace had a tendency to never back down from a fight, saying that he would never run once facing an enemy. Also like his father and brother, Ace was confident and fearless when confronting his opponents even when they were extremely powerful people such as Whitebeard or admirals like Aokiji or Akainu, though like Luffy, he could also underestimate his opponents. When Blackbeard demonstrated the power of the Yami Yami no Mi, Ace was unfazed, not viewing it as a threat to himself and only showed shock and fear when Teach used his power to grab him and cancel his Devil Fruit powers. He also tried to kill Whitebeard at least a hundred times despite the massive difference in strength between them and each of his attempts failing miserably. Because of this, some people believed that Ace had a death wish, but in truth, he wanted to prevent the people he cared for from getting hurt. Dadan stated that he inherited this tendency from his father despite loathing him. While Ace emerged victorious over enemies he refused to run from, such as Porchemy and Bluejam, his stubbornness hurt him on a number of occasions, particularly when he refused to back down against Blackbeard or Admiral Akainu. Ace was also easily provoked by and became violent towards anyone who insulted or harmed people close to him. In one of Garp's conversations with Curly Dadan, this was revealed to be a trait of Roger as well. During his childhood, Ace had a tendency to severely injure anyone who insulted Roger, though he himself disliked his biological father. After hearing about Sabo's presumed death at the hands of a World Noble, Ace quickly became bent on killing the Noble and Dadan had to pin Ace down and tie him to a tree to stop him. Ace's temper got the better of him, especially in cases when Whitebeard, proclaimed by Ace to be his only father, was insulted. Believing that this was the case when Blackbeard broke the iron rule of the Whitebeard Pirates and fled after murdering a crewmate, Ace pursued his traitorous subordinate despite his crewmates' efforts and even Whitebeard's orders to stop him. Ace later came to see that his stubbornness had gotten him into the ordeal of being scheduled for execution. Even though he managed to escape death on the scaffold thanks to the pirates' and Luffy's efforts at Marineford and was well on his way to freedom, Admiral Akainu got to him by insulting Whitebeard. Ace quickly turned back to face him, ignoring his crewmates' warnings to not become angered over Akainu's provocations. Unwilling to let him get away of speaking ill of Whitebeard, Ace attacked him out of fury only to have his arm burned by Akainu's Devil Fruit powers. Akainu then took the opportunity to attack Luffy on the sideline, leading Ace to jump in, sacrificing his life to shield Luffy from the attack. While saying his last words, Ace sadly admitted to Luffy that he (Ace) wasted away all of his efforts to rescue him. Although Ace follows the creed of loyalty towards those close to him, such as taking the excessive effort to rescue Luffy from Bluejam or hunting down Teach to avenge Thatch, he was not above using underhanded methods to win a fight at times. Noted examples included trying to stab Whitebeard in his sleep or chopping him down with an axe from behind. Relationships Crews Spade Pirates Ace was extremely loyal to the Spade Pirates, the crew that he formed himself. When he knew that they stood no chance against Whitebeard, he formed a firewall to allow them to escape, leaving himself behind to hold Whitebeard back alone. The Spade Pirates also share this loyalty and looked up to their captain fondly as Ace gave each of them a place on his ship regardless of their races or appearances. When Ace was fighting Isuka, his crew members rushed in to help, even though they were unable to hit her. Despite their earlier thrashing at the hands of Whitebeard, they challenged the Whitebeard Pirates in the hopes of retrieving their captain, but were soundly beaten and abducted along with him. In the novel about Ace, Ace seemed to share a particular bond with Masked Deuce, who he met while stranded on an island with no apparent means of escape. The two initially started on cold terms when Deuce continued to turn down Ace's approaches to be friends, which was further strained when he learned that Ace was the son of the Pirate King. However, he later came to accept Ace and helped form the Spade Pirates together with him, and remarked that he, like the other crew members, viewed Ace like the sun. When Ace was recruiting his crew members, he recognized Skull's experience and knowledge of pirates, finding value in his subordinate's pirate fascination. Ace also supported Mihar's passion for helping children. When Ace found Kotatsu injured from a poacher's trap, he saved the lynx. Because of this, Kotatsu's cowardly personality became courageous. He also loved to sit next to Ace, as his captain's Devil Fruit abilities kept him warm. The Spade Pirates, who are now a part of Whitebeard's crew, mourned his death. Whitebeard Pirates Ace initially intended to take Whitebeard's head but was defeated. Whitebeard invited him to be one of his sons, which Ace vehemently refused; despite this, Whitebeard abducted the entire Spade Pirates onto his crew. After trying to assassinate Whitebeard many times, Ace was eventually drawn in by Marco's description of the love the Whitebeard Pirates bore for their father. He decided to give up on his struggles and take up Whitebeard's symbol on his back; this tattoo became his greatest pride and joy. Ace held great respect for his captain. As far as Ace was concerned, Whitebeard was the greatest pirate alive, and even went so far as to describe Whitebeard as a type of father figure. Ace was a loyal crewman and commanded the 2nd division of the Whitebeard Pirates. It is revealed that Thatch was one of the first of Whitebeard's crew to interact with him and they appear to have been good friends. Ace and Marco also seemed to have a close friendship due to Marco explaining the bond between Whitebeard and his crew. Marshall D. Teach, who later became Blackbeard, once served as a member of the 2nd division under Ace and they are shown eating together in flashback with Blackbeard encouraging Ace to become 2nd commander. The Whitebeard Pirates were revealed to be very fond of Ace and unhesitatingly vowed to rescue him from his execution, as seen when they shouted out that they would not forgive anyone who hurt him. Whitebeard seemed unconcerned about Ace's hunt for Blackbeard, and remained grounded that it was Ace's duty to execute the traitor, regardless of the heavy warnings he received from Shanks. It was revealed however that Whitebeard himself was troubled about Ace hunting Blackbeard and gave him no such orders, but Ace stubbornly set out anyways to hunt down his traitorous former subordinate. Even so, Whitebeard took responsibility for Ace's decision and claimed that it was under his orders that Ace went after Blackbeard. Whitebeard immediately mobilized his crew and his subordinate crews after hearing about Ace's imminent execution. The Whitebeard Pirates reached Marineford, along with many allied powerful pirate crews, and were at war with the Marines and World Government. Family Monkey D. Luffy Ace and his brother, Luffy, were very close as children and remained so as pirates, even after more than three years of separation. Though they were not related by blood, they were still bound by a brotherly bond. Luffy is also aware that Ace was Gol D. Roger's son. As a child, Ace was initially aloof and hostile towards Luffy. Such an example was when Luffy innocently followed Ace onto an old rope bridge and Ace (being greatly annoyed by his presence) knocked Luffy off the bridge and into the ravine. After learning how lonely Luffy was, Ace warmed up to him, but got annoyed whenever Luffy cried. Ace later grew very protective of him, particularly from Garp, even insulting their grandfather in an attempt to stop his abusive behavior towards Luffy. This protective streak continued into the current storyline. Ace first intervened to protect Luffy from Smoker in Nanohana. Later, when he discovered that Blackbeard meant to kill Luffy and hand him over to the World Government, Ace immediately warned him that he would not let him lay a finger on his little brother. Despite their closeness, Luffy often made Ace angry and frequently worried him by doing reckless things. It was because of this that Ace did not doubt Boa Hancock when she informed him that Luffy had infiltrated Impel Down to rescue him. Another instance would be when Ace was being transported to Marineford. He was however, constantly worrying about Luffy's welfare, repeatedly saying his name and thinking about him. Though frequently worried by Luffy's extravagant recklessness, inwardly Ace seemed quite proud of his brother's past exploits; in the anime, he was shown grinning slightly as he listened to Garp, visiting him in prison, discussing Luffy's ruckus-raising on Enies Lobby and Sabaody. Apparently, Ace had been known to frequently share stories about Luffy with the other ranks of the Whitebeard Pirates and the Shichibukai, Jinbe. He was quite overjoyed when he learned that Luffy had gained his first bounty and wasted no time showing the wanted poster to Whitebeard himself. After Luffy's unceremonious entrance into the fray at Marineford, Marco had no trouble identifying him as the brother Ace was always talking about, even prior to Luffy loudly declaring it for all to hear. Ace tended to portray a typical good-big-brother behavior, such as asking the Straw Hat crew to keep an eye on his little brother. He also ensured Luffy had a way of meeting up with him by giving him a Vivre Card. They respected each others choices despite their differences and understood that the other was strong enough to look after himself. Luffy believed that if he grew worried about Ace and rushed to his aid, Ace's ego would not allow it, so he initially left him alone even after discovering that Ace was hurt via the Vivre Card. However, when he learned that Ace had been captured and was due for execution and saw that Ace's Vivre Card had burnt down to a tenth of its original size, Luffy decided take a side trip and save Ace instead of sailing directly from Amazon Lily to the Sabaody Archipelago to reunite with his crew. Ace's protectiveness of his brother was seen again when both the Whitebeard Pirates and Luffy had invaded Marineford in order to save him and he told Luffy to turn back. Luffy refused and pressed on while proclaiming he would save him. Ace was later surprised at Luffy's ability to use Haoshoku Haki and realized his brother had a potential that he was not aware of. After Luffy freed him, the two fought by each other's side and Ace did not even hesitate to throw his life away to save Luffy as he leaped in the way to shield his brother from Akainu as the admiral struck. Ace's only regret was that he would not live to see Luffy achieve his dream, which he believed Luffy undoubtedly would. Ace passed on smiling, while Luffy collapsed into mindless grief over his beloved brother's death. In fact, one of the reasons why the Whitebeard Pirates would defend Luffy is because he is Ace's beloved brother. Sabo Sabo was Ace's good friend and brother from ten years ago. They had planned to become pirates by saving money to buy a pirate ship, a joint attempt that began five years before Luffy followed Ace to the Gray Terminal and to Sabo. Sabo was one of the two people Ace considered a brother along with Luffy. They drank sake together to seal their bond as brothers. When Sabo sacrificed his happiness to save Ace's and Luffy's lives from his father's wrath, Ace decided to forget Sabo for the moment, thinking that if Sabo would be happy, then he and Luffy should be proud. However, after Sabo was presumably killed at the hands of Saint Jalmack, Ace regretted his previous decision, flew into a rage, and attempted to kill the noble in revenge, but was stopped by Dadan, and later wept at the apparent loss of his brother, despite earlier claiming to Luffy that men should not cry. Before dying, Ace mentioned Sabo as one of the reasons that ever made him want to live in the first place. Tragically enough, Sabo survived this event - but because Sabo had amnesia and thus couldn't reveal himself to Ace or Luffy. Ace died without ever knowing that Sabo was alive the entire time. Two years after Ace's death, Sabo would regain his memories and visit Ace's grave before he went on to inherit his brother's power to carry on his memory. Portgas D. Rouge Rouge was Ace's mother, who carried him in her womb for 20 months in order to protect the innocent child from the clutches of the World Government. Ace was born one year and three months after Roger's death, therefore Rouge was five months pregnant when she resorted to some unknown method (assumed by Marines to be sheer willpower) to postpone birth. Just before passing away, Rouge gave him the name Gol D. Ace. However, Ace, grateful to his mother for her sacrifice, chose to take her name instead. Gol D. Roger It has been revealed that Ace's father was the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, contrary to the previous belief that his father was Monkey D. Dragon. Because Roger died before he was even born, Ace felt that he did not owe him anything, which is why he preferred the name of his mother, who died protecting him. Strangely, although Ace hated his father, flashbacks from Ace's childhood revealed that he brutally beat up anyone who spoke ill of him. In another flashback, it shows Luffy and Ace meeting as young children, revealing that Luffy is aware of the fact Ace was not his blood-related brother, and that Luffy is aware of the identity of Ace's father. According to Sabo, Ace did not like talking about him. To this date, Ace was the one of the few pirates shown to speak ill of Gol D. Roger, along with Squard, though many unnamed pirates on Level 6 of Impel Down were known to have grudges against the late Pirate King. Monkey D. Dragon Prior to Sengoku making it public to the world, Ace knew that Dragon is Luffy's father. Other than that, it is unknown what Ace thought about him and vice-versa. During a talk with Garp, Ace brought up the fact that both he and Luffy share the blood of infamous criminals. It is also unknown if Dragon knew that Ace was the son of Roger (before this fact was made known to the world by Sengoku) or if he was aware of his father adopting Ace, though Dragon's closer subordinate Bartholomew Kuma did know. Monkey D. Garp Vice Admiral Garp adopted Ace as a favor to Roger to give Ace a life free of the prejudice of being born from a family of pirates. Though he did come to see Garp as family, he did not approve of his violent behavior towards Luffy. At one point he warned him to stop abusing Luffy going as so far to call him an "old piece of crap". Garp, who had promised to make fine Marines out of the two brothers, was furious when he discovered that Ace had gone ahead to become a pirate instead. Though respectful of his "grandfather", Ace announced that he and Luffy would never have become Marines even if they want to. He disagreed with Garp and remains grounded on the idea that becoming Marines would not have been possible when both of their fathers were world class criminals. Garp, in return, showed extreme sadness about Ace's execution, and cried about Ace's choice in a life of piracy and declared Ace as family. Garp was also willing to kill Admiral Akainu for killing Ace. When Ace was dying, he thanked Garp for loving him and the latter broke down when his grandson finally died. Curly Dadan Curly Dadan, a mountain bandit who was blackmailed by Garp, became the foster mother for Ace and Luffy. Whenever Ace would nearly kill villagers for insulting his heritage, Dadan would get angry at the boy for his actions, to which Ace would snidely remark that he regrets that his victims did not die. Dadan also shows weariness at dealing with Ace, and gives the impression that she would refuse if not for Garp holding her gang's crimes over her head. However, when the Nobles of Goa burned the Grey Terminal, Dadan led her bandits into the inferno to find Ace, Luffy and Sabo and when Ace refused to back down from confronting Bluejam, Dadan had the bandits take Luffy to safety while she stayed behind to stand beside Ace. The two really care for each other as Dadan saved Ace from being burned and Ace was willing to steal medicine from town in order to treat Dadan's wounds. When Ace set out to become a pirate, she was sulking when she heard Ace's message that he was grateful to her. Ace seemed to like Dadan, and prior to his death, asked Luffy to tell her goodbye on his behalf and that he misses her. When Garp returns to East Blue after the Whitebeard War, Dadan hits him furiously because he did not save Ace. Friends Shanks The Yonko Shanks, was on relatively good terms with Ace, who seemed to greatly respect him primarily for his role in saving his adoptive younger brother, Luffy, from the Lord of the Coast during the incident with Higuma. After setting out to begin his life of piracy, Ace immediately sought out Shanks to meet the man in person and thank him on Luffy's behalf. Shanks was initially hostile until he learned Ace's reasons, and the two even celebrated their meeting. Shanks showed some concern for Ace upon learning that he was in pursuit of Blackbeard. He personally sought out Whitebeard to vocally disapprove and attempted to persuade Whitebeard to recall Ace. After the announcement of Ace's execution, it was revealed that Shanks personally intercepted Kaido, another of the Yonko, as the latter attempted to take advantage of the crisis and attack Whitebeard. It is unknown if Shanks ever discovered that Ace was the son of his late captain Gol D. Roger (before this fact was made public by Sengoku). Buggy and Alvida Alliance to join his crew's party.]] During his pursuit of Blackbeard, Ace happened across the Big Top while Buggy and his crew were partying. Attracted by the "very strong and sweet scent" of food, Ace boarded the ship unnoticed and proceeded to help himself - Buggy did not notice his presence until, upon hearing Buggy and Alvida say that they were in pursuit of Luffy but had no clue where he was, Ace offered to give them some helpful information. Ace, being Ace, fell asleep moments later. Though Buggy's crew wanted to capture him, Buggy forbade it, knowing that Whitebeard would not hesitate to take revenge. After Ace woke up, the entire crew apparently enjoyed the rest of his momentary stay. Buggy himself seems to like Ace as after meeting Luffy on Level One, he mentions that Ace, unlike Luffy, happened to be a very swell guy and they were apparently drinking buddies for a while. Buggy also told Luffy that he was very upset when he heard the news of Ace's scheduled execution. Like so many at the time, Buggy was shocked to see Ace fall to Admiral Akainu. Jinbe Ace and Jinbe were once enemies, as Ace wanted to kill Whitebeard, whom Jinbe regarded as a hero for protecting Fish-Man Island. The two dueled for five days until they both collapsed from exhaustion. Despite this scuffle, the two eventually became friends who deeply respected each other. During their time in Impel Down, they were cellmates and Ace asked Jinbe to take care of Luffy after he died, a wish that Jinbe at first refused despite their friendship as Jinbe did not feel like protecting anyone whom he considered to be a stranger. This changed when he developed respect for Luffy and when Ace truly did die. Jinbe was more than willing to forfeit his status as Shichibukai to battle for Ace's freedom, and shed tears for Ace's demise. Straw Hat Pirates Ace was on good terms with Luffy's crew after they met in Alabasta. The crew took a liking to Ace and questioned if he and Luffy were related given the former's politeness. Before parting ways, Ace entrusted them to look after Luffy. At Thriller Bark, Franky was excited to see Ace himself. When Ace's Vivre Card in Luffy's possession began to burn, Nami was concerned about Ace's well-being. After the battle at Marineford during the Straw Hats' separation, they were gravely alarmed upon learning of his death. This lead to them being deeply concerned about Luffy's well-being given how close they were and he died in front of him before he suffered a mental breakdown. Tama Sometime during his journey, Ace arrived to the Kuri region in Wano Country, where he encountered a young girl named Tama. They shared a strong bond that inspired Tama to became a Kunoichi. After Ace promised to return to visit her, Tama waited for him despite the terrible living conditions caused by the Beasts Pirates. When Luffy informed her of Ace's death, Tama was deeply upset and refused to believe him. Enemies Isuka In the novel, Ace and Isuka's relationship was similar to Luffy and Smoker's relationship, except on more amicable terms. She attacked Ace and his crew, viewing it as her duty to enforce justice. When she almost drowned, Ace threw her a life preserver, causing her to change her view about him. She attacked his crew several times since then, but Ace easily dealt with her with no grudges. Isuka then decided to try to get Ace to give up piracy, seeing him as a good person. After Ace stopped Draw's assault, Ace offered her a spot in his crew but she declined and parted ways with him on good terms. Marshall D. Teach Ace's main enemy was Marshall D. Teach, also known as "Blackbeard", whom he chose to hunt down for killing Thatch. However, as Shanks stated, Ace was strong and young, but the fact that he was appointed as Whitebeard's Second Division commander worried Shanks due to "that trust and reputation" getting in the way. Shanks concluded that Ace was not ready to face Blackbeard, which was confirmed later when Ace confronted him and his crew. At first, Blackbeard wanted him to join to hunt down Luffy, but Ace declined his offer and the two fought against each other. In the end, Ace was defeated and turned in to the Marines, thus granting Blackbeard the status of Shichibukai. Smoker They met in Alabasta when Smoker was hunting for Luffy but found Ace instead. He tried to arrest the Whitebeard Commander though both were conveniently sent flying by Luffy. Smoker soon ignored Ace and went after Luffy, something that caused Ace to intervene on his brother's behalf. Smoker questioned Ace's reason before he was informed they were brothers. Ace also fought evenly with Smoker for a few moments, who even Luffy has yet to beat. The elements of their Logia Devil Fruits canceled each other out, and neither of them were able to gain the upper hand even though Ace was just trying to gain some time for the Straw Hats to get away. World Government The World Government, after discovering that Ace was the son of Gol D. Roger, was unable to touch him because of Whitebeard. When Blackbeard defeated and turned him in, they seized the chance and made Ace's execution their highest priority. It appeared that Ace shared a similar fate with Nico Robin and Luffy - his sole existence was a sin to the World Government, being the child of the "world's greatest evil". Akainu Admiral Akainu earned Ace's scorn for badmouthing Whitebeard as Ace and Luffy were making their retreat, provoking Ace to turn back and let his chance to escape Marineford slip away. He attacked Akainu in fury over the insult, but discovered that his fire was inferior to that of Akainu's magma. Akainu was able to burn Ace and eventually kill him. 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